Chapter 1
Springtime 1 is the 1st chapter of the Silver Spoon manga.Red Hawk Scanlations, Chapter 1 Synopsis Under the open blue sky, a boy is taking stock of his situation: he is in the rural countryside, with an overly friendly calf and a cell phone with no reception, completely lost. Frustrated, he begins to recall how he even got there. Yugo Hachiken had just been accepted to the dairy farming program of Yezo Agricultural High School. During his tour of the campus, Hachiken got bitten by a calf that had gotten loose. After assuming that his tour guide and fellow students were just going to ignore the calf, he decided to catch it himself. The calf turned out to be elusive, and Hachiken ended up chasing it into the wilderness (had he waited, he would have seen the guide returning with a nursing pail, which would have easily attracted the calf). Following his retrospection, he blames the calf for their situation. Suddenly, Hachiken comes across what he thinks is a bear. In reality, it is Aki Mikage riding a horse. She came looking for Hachiken when he ran off with the calf, borrowing the horse from the equestrian club to do so. She explains that she is able to ride such large horses because her family raises them and cows. She further indicates that she came to Yezo High because she will probably inherit the farm. She then asks what is his motivation (or "dream") for coming to the school, since he took the normal entrance exam. Hachiken looks distinctly uncomfortable, and replies that he doesn't really have one. A few days later, Hachiken's class proceeds with introductions. As his classmates list their goals and dreams, Hachiken seems uneasy. He discloses in his introduction that he graduated from New Sapporo Middle School, a high-level preparatory school, which makes several of his classmates question why he came to an agricultural school. While he reflects on Mikage's question, Hachiken agitatedly thinks that his dreams don't matter, and that he'll take the top spot at the school. Hachiken smugly notes that all the non-agricultural books are small, however he is upset at how thick his other books are, such as animal husbandry. Nonetheless, he memorizes the contents so that he can get the highest score on the test, only to be thwarted when the instructor mentions that they will be getting new books in class specifically written for Hokkaido livestock. At the break, Keigi Tokiwa begs for Hachiken's help with their math class. Other students note that they are also bad at certain academic subjects (although not as bad as Tokiwa), leading Hachiken to feel self-satisfied. His confidence, however, is shot back down as some of the same students carry on a complex, college-level discussion about cell cloning research. As Hachiken heads back to the dorms with Shinnosuke Aikawa, Aikawa asks him what was his reason for coming all the way to the middle of nowhere from Sapporo. Hachiken responds that he can get away from home here. Ichiro Komaba arrives at the tail end of their conversation, revealing that he has already joined the baseball club. He invites the two to join as well, but they both decline. Mikage also shows up, and points out that she and Komaba are childhood friends. She then asks Hachiken what club he is applying to, as club participation is mandatory. As he laments over the fact that all the clubs involve physical labor, he is invited to join the equestrian club by Mikage. Their chat is interrupted by a worker asking for their help to catch some escaped chickens. Since Mikage and Komaba have club activities, they are excused. As Hachiken and Aikawa leave, Komaba notes that Hachiken wouldn't gain anything from chasing calves and tutoring other students, and Mikage agrees, but feels that he is a nice guy anyway. After Hachiken and Aikawa finish, they are rewarded with a chicken butchered right in front of them, which will later be smoked and sent to their rooms. Finally arriving to his room, Hachiken is physically and mentally exhausted. He questions his roommates about their dreams, and notes that the atmosphere at this school seems to imply that one is worthless if one doesn't have a dream. One of his roommates then notes that they should hurry to the bath, as they are only allotted fifteen minutes. Hachiken again notes he is exhausted. The next day, the students have a physical fitness test consisting of a lap around the school grounds, including all of the school's farmland and forested areas, which amounts to 20 kilometers. Hachiken unequivocally feels that he doesn't want to be here anymore. Trivia *Hachiken makes a reference to Raoh from the Fist of the North Star when he first meets Mikage. Red Hawk Scanlations, Chapter 1, page 11 *The physical fitness tester looks suspiciously like Major Louis Armstrong from Hiromi Arakawa's previous manga, Full Metal Alchemist.Red Hawk Scanlations, Chapter 1, page 32 Reference Category:Chapter Category:Chapter Category:Chapter Category:Chapter Category:Chapter Category:Chapter Category:Chapter Category:Chapter Category:Chapter Category:Chapter Category:Chapter Category:Chapter Category:Chapter Category:Chapter Category:Chapter Category:Chapter